Gum says WSSC has primarily a two fold plan to attach the deteriorating infrastructure. The first is to secure funding and the second is to get to the pipes and fix them quickly.

Currently almost all the funding for repair projects come from the rate payers. Gum added, "All of that money is coming from our rate payers. We aren't getting any help from anybody. The rate payers are paying for this."

As for the fixes he says of the 5,400 miles of piping they manage they how to repair about 55 miles of it a year. That is at a price of about 1.4 million per mile.